Weary Garcia's 'creativity' does in Vikings

TAMPA, FLA. - Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jeff Garcia moved slowly toward the locker room after Sunday's 19-13 victory over the Vikings. He had just spent the past three hours scrambling all over the field at Raymond James Stadium trying to avoid the Vikings' pass rush. Now, it was all he could do to take off his uniform before heading to the training room to stitch up a cut on his chin.

Garcia will take the victory, but at 38, he's not sure he can take many more games like Sunday's.

"These type of games wear on you,'' he said. "You can't play like this every single weekend.''

The Vikings' defensive line was in the Bucs backfield often, but they were unable to get to Garcia. An example came in the first quarter when Garcia eluded a pass rush on third-and-3, scrambled to his right and hit Warrick Dunn for 36 yards. The drive eventually ended in a Matt Bryant field goal that tied the score 3-3.

"Jeff did a good job of keeping plays alive,'' Dunn said. "He uses his feet to make plays, and that is so valuable. On the play to me, he was scrambling, and I was late getting out of my route. We were playing a little street ball.''

Another example came on the opening drive of the second half. Garcia and the Bucs' offense overcame two consecutive holding penalties and converted a second-and-25 from the Vikings 32 when Garcia hit tight end Jerramy Stevens at the 1-yard line. The Bucs scored a play later, tying it 13-13. And on the first drive of the fourth quarter, Garcia scrambled twice for first downs on a 13-play drive that ate up 8 minutes, 52 seconds and eventually ended in a Bryant field goal that made it 16-13.

"There were opportunities for me to utilize my legs today,'' Garcia said. "That's something I used to do a lot more in the past. It's nice to know I can still do that, although it's not something I rely much upon any more. This was one of those games, because of their pass rush, they opened up some lanes for me.''

The Bucs' offensive line loves him. He was officially sacked once, but it was for no loss.

"We don't know where he's going or what he's doing,'' Bucs guard Davin Joseph said. "He does a great job of making plays and not taking those big hits.''

And that's the kind of quarterback Bucs coach Jon Gruden wants.

"He's a creative player, and his legs are his ally,'' Gruden said. "We need his legs and we need his scramble ability, his elusiveness in the pocket."